Improvement in trace-buckles



UNITED STATES CHARLES B. BRISTOL, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRACE-BUCKLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No 214.096, dated April 8, 1879 application filed January 28, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES B. BRISTOL, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Trace-B uckles; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in'

Figure 1, a top View of the buckle, and in Fig. 2 a longitudinal section.

This invention relates to an improvement in buckles, with special reference to those used for adjusting traces, and commonly called trace-buckles, but is applicable for other purposes; and it consists in the construction as hereinafter described, and more particularly recited in the claim.

A A are the two sides. Across one end is the bar B, which connects the two ends, and forms the bar onto which to attach the tug O. This bar is rounded upon its front edge, running back in V shape, as seen in Fig.2, for the purpose more fully hereinafter described. Across the front end of the frame is a bar, D, arranged relatively to the bar B, so as to lie upon the upper surface of the trace E. On the under side of the bar D is the tongue F, made fast to or a part of the said bar, and in length a little more than the thickness of the trace. Near the lower end of the tongue it is constructed so as to form substantially a shoulder, as at a.

The buckle is applied to its use by attaching the tug C to the bar B. Then with the bar D turned up, as seen in broken lines, Fig. 2, the trace is introduced through the loop H, and when in the proper position the bar D is turned down, forcing the tongue through the perforation in the trace, the perforations being made so as to allow the tongue to freely pass through.

In order to prevent the accidental removal of the tongue, it is reduced near its lower end to produce substantially the shoulder a. Direct draft upon the tongue has no tendency to throw it outward; but bending the trace as in the usual way for releasing it from the buckle-tonguesay, as in broken lines, Fig. 2- brings the inside edge of the hole onto the shoulder of the tongue, and makes it impossible,in this manner, to remove the tongue. N either can it be done in any of the many ways in which the trace may be moved. or bent; but it may be done by holding the trace flat, as seen in Fig. 2, then raising the bar, which is conveniently done by placing the fingers beneath the projection L and raising it, as seen in broken lines, Fig. 2an impossible condition to be attained by any ordinary or accidental use of the buckle.

The bar B is flattened or made of the V shape on its forward edge, so that the loops made by the tug around the bar may act upon the bar as a cam, and thereby tend to force it to its normal position.

I do not broadly claim a buckle having a stationary tongue, as such, I am aware, is not new.

I am also aware that buckles have been made before my invention in which the frame and tongue have been in one and the same piece, and without any hinged part; but I am not aware that such a construction has been made with the tongue having a shoulder at its end, which, when free, can be easily turned outward from its hole in the trace when no strain is on the trace, but hold firmly under strain; but

What I do claim is- A buckle consisting of two sides, the tugbar and ton gue-bar, and the tongue on the under side of said tongue-bar, constructed with a shoulder near its lower end, substantially as described.

CHAS. B. BRISTOL.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, J. :SHUMWAY. 

